The President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Masoud Barzani, recently visited the Houses of Parliament to meet MPs and Lords with an interest in the region. Meg, as Chair of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq All Party Parliamentary Group, was pleased to meet him and to have the opportunity to discuss the latest developments in Kurdistan and in Iraq as a whole.

President Barzani explained that the wind down of Coalition armed forces in Iraq brings with it greater expectations on Iraqi politicians – Arabs and Kurds – to build stability and develop the economy. In his view this can only be achieved by recognising that Iraq functions well as a federal system, where the main three components of Iraqi society – Kurds, Shia Arabs and Sunni Arabs – control much of their own local and regional system.

President Barzani was on a short European tour, having been to Germany where he met Chancellor Angela Merkel and the German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and Italy where he met the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Associated Photograph :

Meg with President Masoud Barzani and Ann Clwyd MP, Chair of the British-Iraq All Party Parliamentary Group.